Even as he was saying it, Vasili knew how stupid it was. Not only to mouth off to this pampered prince of a wannabe gangster, but to do so when he might already have cause to call for Vasili’s head. But Vasili couldn’t help it. Here, again, he was confronted by someone who didn’t quite understand the machine or how it worked. Someone whose ignorance threatened its smooth operation. That was something Vasili could not stand for.
When he finished, Vasili looked to Yoshii, who remained impassive. “And what are your thoughts on this matter?”
Yoshii flicked a glance in Vasili’s direction before responding.
“Well, I am afraid I side with Chobei on this. I feel we must act. To allow such slights and signs of disrespect to go unpunished would make us look weak.”
“I must say, without meaning any disrespect to you, Vasili, but I am inclined to take Yoshii’s advice on this matter.”
I’m sure you are, Vasili thought.
“But, I gave my word to my mother that I would honor your counsel. And a man is only as good as his word. So I would like to ask you to accompany me to a sit-down with Soseki. I fear that I may have lost the ability to transact with him because of our recent confrontation. But if I were accompanied by someone of your stature, I am sure he would agree to a meeting.”
Vasili considered this. He didn’t like the idea of a sit-down with a boss he didn’t know. Soseki might use it as a chance to try to take out Vasili to make a name for himself, or might just do it out of anger for Chobei’s actions. Or, if Chobei knew about the hit, the entire thing could be a setup to lure him away from his home territory and kill him. On the other hand, there was Vasili’s obligation to Eriko to consider …
“Alright. We will meet with them. But we meet on neutral ground, with full security detail.”
“Excellent!” Chobei beamed. “Thank you for lending your support in this matter. I shall arrange a meeting at a mutually agreed-upon—”
“I’ll handle the preparations,” Vasili said. “He might be more comfortable dealing with me.”
Chobei’s smile faltered. “As you wish.”
He looked like he had more to say on the matter. But just then the waiters arrived, bearing platters of food for the table and refilling sake glasses. At that the meal commenced, during which Vasili made a show of keeping up with the conversation. All the while in his mind he was keeping a catalog of which dishes Chobei or Yoshii ate from, and only taking food from those. It never hurt to be too careful.
Chapter Three
Masa trudged up the eighty-six stone steps leading to Atago Shrine. By the time he reached the top, his respirator was so fogged up inside he could barely see the cityscape glittering off in the distance. Through the fog the bright lights looked like shining jewels ensconced in a murky haze. He pushed his respirator off to the side to take in the view unimpeded, airborne carcinogens be damned. Live for the moment, that was his motto.
He began walking the temple grounds perched high up the hillside. He passed through a large stone gate, then several smaller wooden ones painted a brilliant red. This brought him to the main temple area, which was deserted at this time of night save for one other. As he entered the clearing, Sachiko turned and looked at him. She looked paler than he remembered, but other than that it was the same Sachiko as before. She had hardly aged at all in the time they had known each other.
Still the same large eyes that could see through you. Still the same mouth constantly turned up in bemusement. Still the same no-bullshit expression she always wore. Sometimes, Masa wondered why she even still bothered with him.
“Thanks for meeting me here. I know we haven’t spoken much lately.”
“I’m not doing anything else,” she replied archly. She softened when she saw the expression on his face. “Besides, when you called you sounded like you could use someone to talk to. And who better than me?”
Masa smiled. “I know you think I say it too much, but you really do make me a better person.”
“Alright, alright,” Sachiko said, waving her hands as if to physically shoo away the compliment. “What happened to your hand?”
Masa looked at the dirty bandage on his left hand and shrugged.
“Some asshole mouthed off to me. Had to teach him a lesson. Got cut up a little in the process.”
Sachiko shook her head. “You and your temper. Never could let anything go.”
“I’m … I’m trying. It’s hard, though, to get beyond it. I feel like that’s all people expect from me, so that’s all they see.”
“Well, we’re all haunted by the ghosts of our past, aren’t we?” Sachiko said with a wry smile.
He looked away and winced. “Yeah, I suppose we are.”
“So what have you been up to recently?”
“Keeping a low profile. Some people are after me.”
“What did you do this time?”
“Actually, it’s what I didn’t do. I didn’t kill a man I was supposed to.”
“That must be a first for you. What happened?”
“Here, walk with me. I want to see the view.”
The two of them began ambling around the deserted temple as Masa recounted Vasili’s assignment for him. By the time he finished, he was practically fuming.
“Why are you so upset? He must trust you to give you such an important hit. And it’s not unexpected, he’s been using you a lot for jobs like this.”
“Yeah, using. Chobei is the son of the shacho—he’s untouchable. Killing him is next to impossible. Killing him and getting away with it is absolutely impossible. Vasili knows this. That’s why he put me on it.”
“Maybe he has more faith in you than you realize. You’ve done a lot of shit lately to earn it.” She arched an eyebrow.
Masa caught the barb but ignored it. “No, see, Vasili, he’s smart like that. If I get killed in the attempt, he says he had nothing to do with it. He’d probably be happy to be rid of me. But if I pull it off, he can have me killed himself as a show of loyalty to Eriko. He wins either way.”
“I don’t know. You tend to take a pretty pessimistic view of others.”
“Of course I’m a pessimist! When you believe the worst about people, they never disappoint you.”
Sachiko just shook her head. “If you look for the worst in people, that’s all you’ll find. You can’t just—”
“Weren’t you even listening? That fucker Vasili still barely knows who I am—despite all the shit I’ve shoveled for him. You know what he said to me? ‘You still have all of your fingers.’ That asshole didn’t even remember that he was the one that made me cut my finger off! Is that how low I rate to him?”
“He’s oyabun. Bosses like him probably get too many fingers to keep track of.”
Masa waved the idea away. “You know what’s even worse than that, though? I knew he wouldn’t remember. Hell, I was counting on it. I’m just another nothing soldier to him. He gave me the order, and I cut my own finger off! My hand was sweating so much the cleaver slipped. I had to hack it four times before I got through all the bone and tendon! For what? Some asshole who can barely remember my name?”
“I thought that’s just how you guys operated.”
“Yeah, I did that as a sign of loyalty. But with him it only goes one way. Respect never flows down from King Vasili. And speaking of loyalty, that’s the worst part of this whole shitshow. Vasili is obviously too important to track me down himself, so he got Satoshi to do his dirty work.”
“Satoshi? Your Satoshi? I thought you two were friends.”
Masa sighed. “He’s not my Satoshi. We haven’t been close in a while, and then when the thing with you …” Masa looked sheepish. “Anyway, it’s still a knife to the gut that he’s the one tracking me down. Considering all we’ve been through.”
“But how could Satoshi just betray you like that?”
Masa shook his head. “That’s Satoshi for you, always loyal to the boss. Still looking for a father figure. Although I give him credit for tryi
ng, I guess.”
“What do you mean?”
“He asked me to parlay with him. Asked what Vasili wanted with me, like he was looking for an excuse not to do it. But I couldn’t tell him.”
“Why not?”
“If Satoshi knew what I know, he’d be a target too. I couldn’t do that to him. We were brothers once, long ago. Maybe he doesn’t take that seriously, but I do.” Masa laughed. “It’s almost funny, in a way. He’s going to try to hunt me down and bring me to my death, all because I tried to protect him from the same.”
Sachiko was silent for a while. “I don’t know if funny is the word I would use.”
Masa gave her a grim, forced smile.
“Trust me, it’s fucking hilarious.”
When the meal was over, Vasili was about to excuse himself and beat a hasty retreat when Chobei cornered him.
“May I have a word? In private? Perhaps we could step outside into the garden?”
“Of course.” Is this where it comes?
The two walked outside. It was a tasteful Japanese garden, neatly landscaped with plants, stone lanterns, bamboo latticework, and even a bridge running over a stream. Chobei led the two of them out into the center, away from the building.
Vasili glanced back and saw Jun nonchalantly standing by the door lighting a cigarette. Or pretending to, at least, Vasili had never known him to be a smoker. Smart, that one.
“Vasili, I hate to do this, but I have another favor to ask you. You must be starting to think I’m nothing but a burden.”
“No, not at all!” I already think that about you. “What can I do?”
“Well, I might be in a bit of legal trouble that I was hoping you could smooth over.”
“Eh, possibly. But police are watching me carefully already because of serial killer.”
“No, no, nothing like that. It has to do with one of your employees.”
Here it comes, Vasili thought. He glanced in Jun’s direction.
“Ai Kikugawa. She’s a television actress managed by VL Starpower. She and I have been dating recently, but we had something of an altercation the other day. I may have gotten a little … handy with her.”
Vasili sighed and rubbed his eyes. “How bad?”
“That’s visible? Just a black eye, and a bruise on her cheek. I apologize, but I had a good reason!”
Yeah, shitbirds like you always do.
“She disrespected me. Called me a thug for the way I disciplined one of my men.”
Oh fuck, I hope there’s not another story there. At least not one that I have to clean up.
“I lost my temper and laid hands on her. A momentary lapse on my part, and out of keeping with our chivalrous ways, to be sure. Despite my repeated apologies, she has threatened to press charges.”
Vasili chewed his lip and nodded. “So what would you have me do?”
“As her boss, could you … talk to her? Maybe make her see that it’s in her best interest to drop the charges?”
Vasili nodded, then stepped in close to Chobei menacingly. He grabbed the taller man from behind his head by the scruff of his neck and leaned in close, a single large finger held up to one of Chobei’s wide eyes.
“I will do this for you this time. As favor to you, and your mother. But you will not lay finger on her again. Her, or anyone else. Do you understand? You do not hit women. And you do not create problems you can’t clean up.”
“What am I just supposed to do? Let a slight like that go? Let her get away with disrespecting me?”
Vasili shook him hard enough to rattle the tall man, whose eyes widened further.
“Yes. Pick your battles. Your hide is silk; it needs to be leather. Toughen up.”
“Forgive me if I think that deference and respect still mean something!”
“They do, but they have their place. Use your head before you use your hands, or your trigger finger.”
Vasili turned and whistled for Jun, who pushed off from the wall he was leaning against and joined his boss. Vasili looked back and saw a room full of Chobei’s and Yoshii’s men watching them out in the garden. Yoshii seemed to be smirking, but it was hard to say at that distance. Vasili’s countenance was carved in stone, but on the inside he was cursing himself for losing his cool.
As they pulled away from the restaurant, Jun once again looked in the mirror at his boss.
“So, now what do you think the chance is that the sit-down with Soseki will be a trap?”
“Hmm, I’d say seventy-thirty.”
Chapter Four
Satoshi, Pura, and Johnny skipped Takeshi’s funeral.
They had to; the police were casing the funeral home looking for his accomplices in the robbery.
Instead, they waited for the other guests to leave, followed soon after by the unmarked police vehicles parked nearby. Only then did they materialize out of the dark of night to pay their last respects to the departed. They found the room where he had been laid out in front of a golden shrine and flowers, the smell of incense heavy in the air. Takeshi’s white kimono had been closed unusually high over his neck to hide the exit wound. Half of his face was heavily caked in makeup to hide his other injuries.
“Only family is allowed at the vigil, gentlemen,” said a Buddhist priest from the doorway.
“Look around,” Johnny said. “We’re the only family he had.”
The priest seemed unsure but nodded solemnly and left the room. Once he was gone, Johnny began removing bottles of liquor from his backpack and handing them around.
“To Takeshi,” they said, raising their bottles in salute.
“I still can’t believe he’s gone,” Satoshi said sadly.
“Yeah, well, he might still be here if you had just—”
“Enough!” Pura said, cutting Johnny off. His eyes were red-rimmed and swollen from crying, but his voice was resolute. “We all knew the risks. What’s the saying you use? ‘The Path ends sooner for some.’ Something like that?”
Satoshi and Johnny nodded.
“Alright. That’s the last of that, then. Because we’re all friends here. Right?” Here Pura looked at each of them in turn.
“Friends,” they both mumbled in agreement. They locked arms and drank from one another’s bottles.
“Good.”
Satoshi mostly saw Pura as a teddy bear, with his easy-going nature and tendency towards bumbling screw-ups. But he could be as imposing and forceful as any black bear when he wanted to be.
“So what’s the other job?” Johnny asked Satoshi.
“What job?”
“When you told us about this job, you said it was to get out of doing another job for The Rock. What’s the job?”
Satoshi sighed. “Keep this among yourselves. But he wants me to bring in Masa for some reason.”
“Masahiro? Your Masa?” Johnny asked.
“He’s not my Masa, but yeah.”
“And I’m guessing it’s not for something positive, right?” Pura asked.
“I don’t know why, exactly. I’m starting to think it’s because he’s the serial killer that’s been dropping bodies on Vasili.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Johnny said. “He’s always been pretty cold-blooded.”
“He wasn’t always like that. When we were kids, he was different. Back then he was quiet, shy, if you can believe it. But somewhere, something changed in him.”
“What?” Pura asked.
“I don’t know. I think it goes back to Osammy.”
“Oh, man, that fucking guy,” Johnny said. “He was the man that made me realize evil truly exists. And I never even worked for him directly. Just heard shit through you guys.”
“He was that bad?” Pura asked.
“You have no idea,” Satoshi said. “I think he saw the same in Masa. Or at least something he could work with there. He warped Masa into his own twisted image.”
Satoshi caught Pura looking at him strangely.
“What?”
Pura shook his hea
d. “It just doesn’t seem like you. Masa’s pretty extreme. But to turn him in like that … I don’t know how I feel about it.”
“What else can I do? Vasili gave me the order, now I’ve got to follow through. I even reached out to Masa, begged him to give me a reason not to … he couldn’t.”
The other two just looked at him.
“And if he is the killer, then bringing him in would be the right thing to do. Hell, even if he isn’t the serial killer, he’s got enough bodies under his belt that I’d be doing everyone a favor by taking him out. Right?”
Satoshi looked at the other two in turn. Neither of them said anything.
“Right?”
The three of them kept their vigil for their dead friend until dawn broke, when the threat of the police returning forced them to leave. They went to Johnny’s building to continue their remembrance on the roof of the apartment building. With the change of venue (and more liquor), their solemn Buddhist-style vigil turned into more of a raucous Irish-style wake.
The three of them sat on folding chairs arranged in a semicircle at the building’s edge, peering off at the sprawling megalopolis beyond. The sun waged a valiant battle with the fog overhead, flashes of golden light occasionally reflecting off the shifting clouds above.
“Wait … wait … is that why you think we call you Pura?” Johnny cackled, almost wheezing from laughing so hard.
“Yeah, isn’t it?”
Satoshi and Johnny nearly fell out of their chairs. Pura just looked curious.
“It’s because … because …” Satoshi trailed off laughing. “It’s not Pura for pure, or anything. It’s from purasenta.”
“So my name is a shortened version of placenta? What the fuck?”
Johnny picked up the story, still chuckling as he dried his eyes. “You remember that time you tried to prove to us you could hotwire a car while we watched from the bar? And the car’s owner came back while you were doing it and started hitting you?”
Pura flushed, but nodded.
“And how he chased you down the block, until you tripped on the curb. Then his girlfriend stood there hitting you with her purse?”
Tokyo Noir: The Complete First Season Page 19